


Escape from Bespin City

by thewaywardwriter



Series: We are the Force and the Force is within. [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Despair, Desperation, Escape, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Post-Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, Rescue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 20:22:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7947751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewaywardwriter/pseuds/thewaywardwriter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia knows what it means to withhold information from the Empire once Darth Vadar is personally involved. She is sure that Lando is aware of the consequences as well, but knowing that he went into this willingly despite the costs is unforgivable.</p><p>Leia doesn't dwell - instead, she takes the gun that Lando gives her and runs and runs and runs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Escape from Bespin City

 

"Oh, he had no _choice!"_

 

Leia understands that it's hard for anyone to back out of anything the Empire demands of them once Vadar is personally involved, but even so...Leia would have rather died than lure anybody here.

  


But then Lando Calrissian mentions having a way to find Han, - to _save_ Han – as well as a way to get her and Chewie out of this hell hole and it's enough to overwhelm her ever growing dislike and distrust of the man.

  


She has no desire to remain in the same city as Vadar and something tells Leia that Lando was telling the truth when he came to see them. The way his hands tighten when he thinks they aren't looking tells her he might have been thrown in over his head.

  


Leia doesn't dwell – instead, she takes the gun Lando gives her and keeps pace with him as best she can without overtaking him – she can't save Han if she's panicking, or if she doesn't know where she's going.

  


It's too late.

  


Vadar's assassin is taking off as soon as Leia aims her gun skyward, taking her love and her hope off with him. _'Han -'_ she thinks in the same breath span as _'My planet...my people.'_ She feels frustrated, she feels helpless and it takes a weapon's blast flying past her elbow to get her moving again.

  


Lando keeps pushing them forward, moving faster and faster as he herds them down one hallway after another. When he announces for the city to evacuate, Leia's heart pounds just a little bit faster – to know that one city could potentially escape the wrath of Vadar's troops makes whatever hope she'd lost come back _that_ much faster.

  


The princess is shaking by the time they reach the Falcon and her mind is whirring as she takes a seat next to Chewbacca. One switch here, one button there. Twice over, Chewbacca reaches across her to pull and prod at the control panel, only to rumble: _“Easy, Leia. You're too tense for this.”_

  


All she can do is nod in response and it's in that brief moment where something cuts into her concentration. It almost sounds like her name – so she turns to it and finds that it _is_ and that the voice behind it is as familiar to her as Han's.

  


“ _Leia,”_ it says with a pained groan, _“Hear me – Leia...”_

  


“Luke,” Leia whispers and she remembers, “We've got to go back.”

  


There's a confused growl from Chewie echoed by Lando's “What?” But Leia persists.

  


“I know where Luke is.”

  


Lando objects, of course. There are fighters and Vadar to think of and Han to save still, but then...

  


It doesn't feel like anything without Luke.

  


So they turn back to Cloud City with hope in their hearts and caution in their eyes and with seconds to spare, they've got him. Leia has never felt so relieved. There's a lot of pain there too, she realizes – but she doesn't focus on that, she just focuses on getting Luke somewhere comfortable before heading back to the cockpit.

  


The person who nonchalently points out the star destroyer doesn't feel like her. It feels like the adrenaline is pushing her sense of herself out of her body, even as she sets in the coordinates and reminds Lando that she didn't trust his people to fix the hyperdrive.

  


“All the coordinates are set,” she tells Chewbacca, “It's now or never.” It's never, as it turns out and all Leia can do is collapse in the other chair in frustration as the Wookiee and Lando voice their dispair. “My ship!” Chewbacca moans as he all but sprints through the ship.

  


_'_ Whatever the wookiee does, it works. The hyperdrive kicks in just as the star destroyer looms up on their left hand side.

  


_'Safe,'_ Leia thinks as they jump across the galaxy.

  


' _Safe,'_ Luke says as he drapes an extra blanket around her neck.

  


“We're safe,” Lando sighs as he arrives back in the cockpit, “Go rest Leia. We'll take it from here.”

 


End file.
